I Got Reincarnated as a Villainous Noble Destined for Getting My Punishment, but Since I Got Married to My Favorite Final Boss Heroine, I Shall Use My Knowledge of the Original Game to Make My Wife Happy - 8&9

Chapter 8: Father’s Monologue SIDE Ganon

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“I never imagined Ike would grow this much…”

It was midnight. Raiza and Ike had just finished their duel on that day. Ganon Hanbulg, Ike’s father, murmured to himself as he tilted a glass of red wine to his mouth in his office. 

“To be honest, I was also deceived by his pretense. I never thought Ike would make other people look down on him on purpose for the greater good.”

Ganon then started to think to himself. 

Has there ever been anyone who thought of the Hanbulg family this much before?

In the end, Ike turned out to be a sharp-witted boy, unlike Raiza, who drowned himself in carnal desires with that maid. Ike was different, He was someone who was willing to sacrifice himself to achieve his goals. Even as his father, Ganon found Ike’s determination to be terrifying. 

“Maybe Ike has been suffering all these time. Perhaps because the lives of our subjects aren’t getting richer or perhaps because our family keeps getting looked down on by everyone.”

Although the Hanbulg family had been granted the title of a Duke and they had received vast lands from the kingdom, but it wasn’t just all sweet and no pain. At first glance, the Hanbulg family might look wealthy enough to bask in luxury. But in reality, they had plenty of things to do. Managing the vast swath of land, keeping guard against the neighboring enemy nations, paying taxes to the kingdom… Especially the taxes. The taxes they had to pay were not cheap by any means. It was a busy life and the reward didn’t suit the pain. 

“Excuse me, Master. We’ve sent Raiza-sama to the northern monastery.”

“Oh, Melcott. Well done. It would be troublesome if he escaped. Thank you for handling it wonderfully.”

Melcott, the maid, reported to Ganon. However, Melcott was not just any maid. She was both Ganon’s right-hand woman and the leader of Ganon’s private assassination squad. 

“Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Melcott bowed and began to leave. 

“Melcott, may I ask you something?”

“Yes, of course. Anything.”

“What do you think of Ike? Please be honest.”

“Ike-sama? Well, if I may be honest… He never bothers doing any magic training. I thought he was just a good for nothing parasite who used the status of Hanbulg ducal family to be pretentious.”

“You’re being quite blunt with your opinions, huh.”

“I’m honored to hear your praise.”

“I…I wasn’t praising you. Anyway, if that’s what you think then, it can’t be helped I guess. I have been thoroughly deceived by him too.”

Ganon smiled happily. Indeed. He was genuinely pleased. He couldn’t stop himself from saying it again that he, as his parents, had been thoroughly deceived by Ike. In fact, he couldn’t wait to boast about this to someone else. He was certain Ike would be able to achieve many great things in the future. 

“Ah, I’m sorry for holding you here. You may go now.”

“Certainly. Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Melcott left the room. Basking in the silence, Ganon swirled the wine in his hand. Ike changed when he met Luna, or to be more precise, when he became engaged to Luna. No, perhaps just like what he had said, he deliberately acted like a waste of space to avoid suspicion. That might actually be more plausible, but…

“It doesn’t change the fact that Luna is important to Ike. Which means, if I can win over Luna to our side, Ike will show even more grandeur achievement for her sake.”

And to achieve that, he knew he had to become close to Luna like a real family. If he could make Luna happier, Ike would be satisfied in return as well.

“Ahhh! I can’t wait! I’m looking forward to the day when our Hanbulg family can overturn the entire power structure of this kingdom!”

Ganon laughed heartily, patting his round belly. He was swelling with ambition again today.

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Chapter 9: Time to Start the Magic Training, or to Be Precise, Starting a Diet

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“I need to lose weight.”

After my duel with Raiza, I came to realize one certain fact. This chubby body of mine was so slovenly. Well, that was a lie. I actually had been thinking of doing something about this chubby body for a while now. Luna had always pampered me rotten, so I never really looked at myself objectively… No, she didn’t need to say it out loud. Just think about this logically. If she were to choose between someone with an ugly body like mine and a muscular soldier who were not only fat, but also trained diligently everyday, which one would she choose? No, which one would I choose? The answer was obvious. If I were her, I would pick the non-fat soldier in a heartbeat.

I had to eliminate any factor that might make Luna dislike me, as miniscule as it was.

Moreover, I needed to be able to fight without relying on the artifact in case of an emergency. If I ever found myself unable to use the Staff of the Dragon Start, I would be reduced into a powerless mob character again. Sure, I could’ve chosen the easier path, but I wanted to get the best future with my favorite character and live happily ever after with her. Hence why, I needed to spare no effort in becoming stronger. 

Besides, getting stronger and losing weight at the same time… That was basically killing two birds with one stone, right? 

There was a strange thing in this world. All wizards were not overweight. None of them were overweight. Absolutely none whatsoever. There was a reason for this lack of weight gain. It seemed using magic would burn calories as well. Using calories meant losing weight. And so, the more I mastered magic, the thinner I would. Using magic was more physically demanding than I thought. Of course, since I planned on achieving a nice body that would garner Luna’s love, I also had to learn how to fight with my body.

However… It turned out the hardest part of losing weight was starting the diet, especially for someone plump like Ike.

And so, I headed to the training ground of the Hanbulg family to start my diet plan.

“Oh my, if it isn’t Ike.”

The one that called my name was a woman with brown braids. She was clad in a purple robe, dressed unmistakable like a magician. This was my first time meeting her, but she was someone close to Ike. 

“Marsha-oneesama…”

“Now, now… I already told you to call me Marsha-nee instead of ‘onee-sama’, right?”

“Ugh-! Sorry, Marsha-nee…”

“Good. By the way, I heard you’ve been working hard for your dear fiancée? How impressive.”

Marsha-nee drew my head closer to her and gently stroked my head. She stroked and stroked. Her ample bosom, hidden under the robe, came in contact with my head. I hadn’t realized how big and soft her chest was until I actually touched it with my head. Could it be… That purple robe made her look thinner than she actually was?! So this purple robe was on purpose?! 

This was our first encounter, but I came to realize Marsha-nee was someone formidable indeed. 

“So? Why are you here at the training grounds? Are you trying to become stronger for your future wife?”

“We-Well… More or less.”

“Kyaa!! How wonderful! What a very wholesome relationship! You know, actually, Onee-chan has been worried if you were up to some mischief again..! Alright! I will be sure to watch over your special training!”

She raised her thumb energetically at me. She was brimming with enthusiasm… Or rather, so that was how she saw me…? Someone who was always up to mischief? It was a bit sad to hear her impression of me so bluntly like that.

“Ufufufu~ I never expected I would get to see my little brother having a love life straight out of a romance novel~ Ahhh~ How irresistible!~”

Marsha-nee grinned from ear to ear. This big sister… Was she alright in the head?

“Alright then, Ike.. Please place your hand over the crystal ball.”

“Okay.”

I placed my hand over the crystal and the crystal started emitting bright red light. 

“Is this.. The power of that rumored artifact?”

“No? I don’t think this is because of the artifact. I mean, what’s the point of training if I’m going to be using the artifact? I’m training because I want to stop depending on the artifact.”

“I see… Then, this is quite something indeed.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Come on, Ike. Despite being a worthless trash of the Hanbulg family, you should’ve known how to read the crystal, right? The crystal ball shows the intensity of magic power by its color. Red means you’re A-rank level. That means you’re not much different from me in terms of magic power, you know?”

“Is that so…”

In the Fortune Lover game screen, I could know my magic power from the status bar. However, now that I had gotten reincarnated as Ike, I had no idea of how to measure my current strength. This knowledge was incredibly useful. I should go buy this crystal ball in secret later. 

“When I measured you six months ago, your magic power didn’t amount to anything, but suddenly you’ve become A-rank in terms of magic power…”

“Marsha-nee, is A-rank really that amazing?”

In Fortune Lover, everything was measured based on status number and story progression. So I didn’t quite understand the meaning of A-rank. 

“What are you playing dumb for? There are only 50 magicians in this kingdom with A-rank level. That should be enough for you to know how incredible A-rank is. Oh and by the way, there are only two people who are S-rank. Well, those two are monsters though.”

“I see, then I will need to aim for S-rank then.”

Those monstrous people might be the capture target that we would have to defeat in the future. In that case, I needed to train more so I could defeat her. I needed to surpass the S-rank!

“Really?! Oh wow~ I’m looking forward to your growth, Ike! By the way, have you been doing anything specific to increase your magic power?”

“Well… Actually, I’ve been training in secret. After all, I’m still a member of the Hanbulg family. I won’t become a good example if I can’t become a strong magician, right?”

“I see… This must be what they mean with ‘a wise hawk hides its talons’… So? You have no intention of hiding your true capability anymore, right?!”

Marsha-nee nodded to herself as she came to her own conclusion. 

I probably had gotten stronger because I had defeated Ancient Golems and the other monsters in that secret area. In the game, the characters could grow stronger by defeating their enemies. That being said, there was no point in grinding the experience point since you could easily defeat the game with just the Staff of the Dragon Star.

“I’d like to say yes, but unfortunately, I’m still lacking in power. I only know the basic magic spells after all.”

You see, even if I had strong magic power, but it didn’t mean anything if I didn’t know how to use it effectively. 

“Is that so? In that case, it’s Onee-chan’s time to shine! What kind of magic would you like to learn?”

“Let’s see… Maybe something like physical enhancement magic? I would be happy if I could master it.”

“Physical enhancement? That’s one of the most basic spells for a magician. Are you sure that’s all you need? Just for your information, magicians fight using magic spells. Learning physical enhancement magic won’t be that useful in the long-run, you know?”

Marsha-nee basically said physical enhancement magic wouldn’t be very useful for someone with high magic power like me. To be fair, the magicians in Fortune Lover rarely used physical enhancement magic either. However, that was because physical enhancement was not useful in the role-playing part of the game. In reality, physical enhancement magic could be used in many ways. That was why I wanted to learn it. However, Marsha-nee probably wouldn’t believe me if I said that. 

“Yeah, I think it’s important to relearn the basics. I know I’ve been taking things too lightly until now. I’ve learned my lessons now.”

I tried to cover it up like that, but for some reason, Marsha-nee started trembling instead.

Huh? Did I say something wrong?

“HOW WONDERFUL!!!”

For some reason, Marsha-nee was deeply moved with my answer.

“Huh?”

Marsha-nee grabbed both of my hands. My heart almost jumped out of my chest from the sudden action.

“That’s right! We mustn’t underestimate the basics! Indeed! Onee-chan will teach you all the basics from the start! Let’s create the perfect foundation for you!”

For now, it seemed she had agreed to teach me. Marsha-nee was Ike’s big sister, so I was a bit wary of her. However, it turned out she was nicer than I expected. 

“My apologies for interrupting your conversation.”

I turned my head at the familiar voice and there I saw Luna standing near the entrance to the training ground.

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